Lunchtime deepness
Sometimes I get the urge to bite the hand the feeds me; Architecture. It really pisses me off quite a bit of the time, which is a pity because it's my apparently chosen career.
Reading Syn's blog entry, and the article it links to, was a bit scary - the article was written in 1963.
In a minute or two, I'd worked out you need to be both cow and bull simultaneously to both study and practice architecture; I didn't do terribly well at design until I learned to be a 'bull'; but that was the point that I lost almost all respect for my lecturers and professors! I also almost quit architecture at that point to do something else - I still sort of wish I had at that point - living at home I had the financial means to do it.
As of 2006 I don't think many universities, and in particular architecture faculties would appear to have learned anything at all since 1963, assuming that they even read this article!
I got my first HD (arch. equivalent of an A) in Arch. Theory when I simply made up my essay & presentation. I deliberately picked the most complex-sounding words I could find in the texts and strung them together in a semi-random fashion. Semi-random as I thought it important that it sounded melodical when read aloud. Or as monotonically droning as possible. When I read it aloud not only did I get an HD; I also received thoughful nods from professors and more importantly, instant academic street-cred.
It was at this point, I think, that I lost all shreds of respect for almost the entire architecture faculty staff. There were one or two professors I still respected, and for good reason (they encouraged me to think for myself), but the majority of them were, quite frankly, fools who were quite easy to fool most of the time. I walked away from uni with Honours, and a deep-seated feeling that I never wanted to go back.
That is changing a bit these days, as I am beginning to think Architecture, as a career, is a bit of a dead end. I'm currently earning as much as it is possible to earn without being a director or business owner; neither of which I have a desire for. The thought of working for myself scares me stupid.
Here's why: Architects study for about the same time as most decent surgeons, and have a similar work-experience period to become accredited. The complexity of our work approaches that of surgery - it requires a firm grasp of a massive gestalt that makes up a project, combined with a requirement to care which direction the timber grain goes on the back steps - attention to the most subtle and fiddly detail. The advantage a surgeon has is that his work is largely performed real-time with highly-trained professional backup staff, who themeselves are capable of a modicum of independant thought. Architecture is not like that. Imagine open-heart surgery performed remotely by a surgeon, who is only allowed to communicate in writing. Oh, and the 'thing' performing the actual operation is a yobb who can't read, and must be reminded to wash his hands and don his surgical mask every single time he enters the operating theatre. That pretty much is how architecture is carried out, certainly in Australia.
Architecture is soul-destroying on many levels. It utterly sucks the life out of you when you practice it; and despite our massive training and now legal requirements for buildings to be architect designed, the vast majority of the urban environment is complete crap.
Reading Syn's blog entry, and the article it links to, was a bit scary - the article was written in 1963.
In a minute or two, I'd worked out you need to be both cow and bull simultaneously to both study and practice architecture; I didn't do terribly well at design until I learned to be a 'bull'; but that was the point that I lost almost all respect for my lecturers and professors! I also almost quit architecture at that point to do something else - I still sort of wish I had at that point - living at home I had the financial means to do it.
As of 2006 I don't think many universities, and in particular architecture faculties would appear to have learned anything at all since 1963, assuming that they even read this article!
I got my first HD (arch. equivalent of an A) in Arch. Theory when I simply made up my essay & presentation. I deliberately picked the most complex-sounding words I could find in the texts and strung them together in a semi-random fashion. Semi-random as I thought it important that it sounded melodical when read aloud. Or as monotonically droning as possible. When I read it aloud not only did I get an HD; I also received thoughful nods from professors and more importantly, instant academic street-cred.
It was at this point, I think, that I lost all shreds of respect for almost the entire architecture faculty staff. There were one or two professors I still respected, and for good reason (they encouraged me to think for myself), but the majority of them were, quite frankly, fools who were quite easy to fool most of the time. I walked away from uni with Honours, and a deep-seated feeling that I never wanted to go back.
That is changing a bit these days, as I am beginning to think Architecture, as a career, is a bit of a dead end. I'm currently earning as much as it is possible to earn without being a director or business owner; neither of which I have a desire for. The thought of working for myself scares me stupid.
Here's why: Architects study for about the same time as most decent surgeons, and have a similar work-experience period to become accredited. The complexity of our work approaches that of surgery - it requires a firm grasp of a massive gestalt that makes up a project, combined with a requirement to care which direction the timber grain goes on the back steps - attention to the most subtle and fiddly detail. The advantage a surgeon has is that his work is largely performed real-time with highly-trained professional backup staff, who themeselves are capable of a modicum of independant thought. Architecture is not like that. Imagine open-heart surgery performed remotely by a surgeon, who is only allowed to communicate in writing. Oh, and the 'thing' performing the actual operation is a yobb who can't read, and must be reminded to wash his hands and don his surgical mask every single time he enters the operating theatre. That pretty much is how architecture is carried out, certainly in Australia.
Architecture is soul-destroying on many levels. It utterly sucks the life out of you when you practice it; and despite our massive training and now legal requirements for buildings to be architect designed, the vast majority of the urban environment is complete crap.
posted by Corinoco at 2:31 pm
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